Data Reconciliation: Process, Standards, and Lessons
Overview
In 2016, Colombia’s National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE) conducted a data gap analysis, revealing that 16 percent of SDG indicators in Colombia were missing data (or methodologically unclear) and 30 percent had only partial data. In response, TReNDS and Colombian partner Centro de Pensamiento Estratégico Internacional (Cepei) worked together to explore the governance and technical requirements for effective data sharing and reconciliation between different public and private data producers, with TReNDS brokering a partnership between the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce and DANE to share data on select indicators, standardize the formats of their data, and work together to support SDG reporting. The project partners hypothesized that the implementation of a technological data reconciliation platform would support this process.
To date, the project partners have documented the process, successes, and challenges of this technological approach, and raised awareness of the potential of data sharing in support of the SDGs. The project is being replicated in other cities across Colombia, such as Cali, and will be presented to the Latin American Chambers of Commerce Association in 2019.
Read about the outcomes of this project and learnings for future data reconciliation projects in this process brief.
Research Leads
Fredy Rodriguez and Philipp Schönrock, Centro de Pensamiento Estratégico Internacional – Cepei
Editing Support
Melika Edquist, Jessica Espey, Jay Neuner, and Leslie Rae, Sustainable Development Solutions Network – SDSN